Lt. Commander Data wrote:Yes, my apologies. One small step is a lot closer to being flat floor than CB80s or older Volgrens however, which have about 3 steps after the centre door.

Swift - to me it looks like the centre door is before the step which looking from the front. I'm sure there'll be plenty of photos of the Adelaide one, once it enters service.

It's a conventional VST/XDi body, That step in the aisle is up in the back section. The floor slopes up from low at the front door to increasingly high towards the back. The trade-off for having less steps in the aisle is that there is a footwell with steps at the centre door, which is a bit of a no no in a city bus nowadays.

However ACTION seems to be generally behind the times in having buses with steps at the centre door/s. They slow passenger exchange, are a safety hazard and are impossible for people to pass through with prams, suitcases or trolleys - forcing them to push through a crowd to the front door.

Thanks for that tonyp, didn't realise a gradually sloping floor was a feature on the VSTs. In any case it's better than the CB60 body, where the half of the bus is so high a 6ft tall person (such as myself) can't stand up without hitting their head on the roof.

Lt. Commander Data wrote:Thanks for that tonyp, didn't realise a gradually sloping floor was a feature on the VSTs. In any case it's better than the CB60 body, where the half of the bus is so high a 6ft tall person (such as myself) can't stand up without hitting their head on the roof.

Yep it's an uphill battle (pardon the pun) getting the perfect bus. The agencies/operators and manufacturers together don't seem to be able to join the dots, with the exception of Volgren's Optimus on a fully low floor Scania N series chassis that some operators have purchased.

October 6 2017 Big change to Canberra bus routes prepares us for even bigger change: light rail .On Saturday, Canberra's bus network will undergo its most dramatic change in a decade. Network 17 is the last big change before light rail commences next year, and is a preview of integrated public transport. It is a long-overdue philosophical shift. Some people will be disappointed but it signposts the future. As with all changes, some are good, some are bad and some are a combination.Canberra's buses can't cope alone with the demands of a growing city, and this was recognised with the decision to build light rail. Although the ACT government invested significantly in new buses and began innovative trials of electric buses, challenges remain. It will be decades until light rail extends right across Canberra, and making the bus service operate more effectively is important. Let's look at Network 17's positives and the negatives.A new Action bus timetable take effect on October 7. Photo: Rohan Thomson Its philosophy is increased frequency of local bus services delivering passengers to high-frequency light rail or rapid bus interchanges. Passengers will then change buses to continue to their destination. This will inconvenience some who are used to a single journey but should enable shorter trip times, and the ability to feed a vehicle back into the network, offering more services overall.Extending the hours that local services operate, on some routes, reverses a trend where services have gradually been reduced by decreasing operating hours. This needs to be extended across the local route network, especially on weekends. Even intertown buses stop running early on Sunday nights; it is simply baffling that this happens in 2017.Related ArticlesWhat changes are there to the ACT's bus timetable from October? Expanding services brings two new rapid services, and other rapid services expanded from town centres out to suburbs such as Kippax. Changes to the green rapid see route 5 removed and route 4 altered. The green rapid and route 4 no longer travel through Russell. Some Narrabundah residents have already complained about this, despite the increase in frequency of a rapid bus a short walk from their homes. There seems to be little complaint from Kaleen and Giralang residents, who similarly face losing access to a black rapid bus when that route is altered to bypass Baldwin Drive.A change that many complained about are the expresso and suburban buses terminating in Civic or Dickson instead of continuing to Russell or Barton. The expresso services are popular and terminating them in Civic runs a risk that passengers will shift back to their cars and pay the daily parking fee instead of changing buses in Civic.To make the change of service as seamless as possible, a new bus station in Dickson has been built next to the former motor vehicle inspection office. This will be the interchange for many north Canberra bus services that previously travelled into Civic. In the Gungahlin town centre, a relocated bus station will also serve as a hub for more frequent local services.Both these new facilities are built right on the light-rail line. When light rail begins, the rapid bus between Gungahlin and Civic will be removed, and the bus kilometres reallocated across the network.It remains to be seen whether passengers will transfer from local buses to a rapid bus (and to light rail in 2018), but that is the intent of the service changes. Although it is very common on other parts of the network, such as Belconnen and south of the lake, many passengers are upset at losing a single-trip service, even if the overall bus frequency in their area increases. It's a bold step to take and it must succeed, as it is the model that will be rolled out across Canberra once light-rail stage 2 commences.Another baffling feature of our bus network only partly addressed by Network 17 is inconsistent weekend and weekday routes and route numbering. Why a 52 bus becomes a 954 bus on a weekend and travels a different route is a mystery known only to network planners. Some of these inconsistencies have been addressed, with many weekend services retaining the same route and number (albeit with a 9 in front of it).The only route that has seven day numbering on the present network is the route 11 Civic-to-airport bus. Under Network 17, the blue rapid bus from Belconnen to Tuggeranong will now operate as the 300 seven days a week (it currently becomes a 900 on weekends). For more people to have confidence in the bus network seven days a week, confusing inconsistencies like different weekend routes and numbering must go in future network upgrades.Informally, network planners advise they would like to move to a seven-day network but say it isn't practical under the current drivers' enterprise agreement. The minister's office seems resolved to negotiate an agreement that allows more flexible network scheduling. It remains to be seen whether the Transport Workers Union shares that approach.Network 17 was prepared fairly quietly and community consultation was lacking. This must be improved upon before light rail starts. Integrated public transport is our future. It is important that the best aspects of buses and light rail are used effectively if we are to resolve Canberra's car dependence and road congestion, contain urban sprawl and grow public transport patronage.Damien Haas is chairman of the Public Transport Association of Canberra.www.theage.com.au/comment/big-change-to ... yvwlw.html

I have found interior photos on the Canberra Public Transport Association website, taken during the August publicity runs together with the video posted above.

The Bustech hybrid:

The Carbridge electric:

The Bustech has their usual sloping floor with one step in the aisle and the disadvantage that the centre door has a stairwell and is not low-entry.

The Carbridge buses I have used a lot at Sydney airport and I can see in this one for Canberra that the luggage racks and three doors in the low floor section have been replaced by seats and only one centre door (that's two doors in total including the front door). The functionality of the low-floor section should be quite decent. The biggest problem with the design as it stands is the massive steps up to the high floor which discourage people from going up there or certainly standing up there. It only looks like a small section in the above photo but it actually constitutes about a third of the interior space of the bus. From experience at Sydney airport, in a crowd the passengers will stay in the low-floor and I have been on a ride with 60 people jammed into the low-floor and hardly anybody going up the stairs! Combined with luggage, the bus becomes completely dysfunctional at this point.

I've discussed this issue with Carbridge and, from comments in the PTAC site, it sounds like Carbridge is going to reveiw that part of the design. The only reason for the high floor at the back is to squeeze more batteries in, but it is self-defeating when it compromises the functionality of the bus.

Canberra bus drivers will have to do a bit of relearning driving this bus as there has to be a careful balance between the dynamic braking and use of the footbrake. I've been on some Sydney airport rides in this bus where the passengers have been propelled forward when the driver obviously thinks he's driving a diesel and applies the footbrake a little too hard!